The manager of a Cambridgeshire recycling company has been sentenced to four years in prison for forging invoices to claim over £1.1 million in VAT repayments.

Brian Brader, 35, set up NKB Recycling in Chatteris in September 2010, claiming that the company exported waste products such as cardboard and plastics to China and India.

However, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) began an investigation when called at the company to check its business records and found fake invoices and fraudulent business records.

The investigation also revealed that Brader had paid himself an £82,000 salary without paying any income tax or national insurance.

Brader was arrested on 23 July 2013 and initially rejected charges that the invoices were fake, but later admitted to more than £350,000 worth of tax fraud through fake invoices for transactions that had not taken place.

HMRC also discovered that Brader took £94,500 from the business in February 2013 to purchase a property that was later sold for £131,000 – HMRC currently has a restraint order on these funds.

Brader was charged with ‘Cheating the Public Revenue’ in March 2015 and pleaded guilty on 21 January 2016 at Ipswich Crown Court. He was sentenced to four years in prison as well as being disqualified from acting as a company director for eight years.

‘Total disregard for rules’

Paul Barton, Assistant Director of the Fraud Investigation Service HMRC, said: “Brader had a total disregard for the rules; he faked invoices to claim over £1 million of taxpayers’ money which should have gone into public services. He also brazenly paid himself a huge salary without paying a penny in tax. This is simply not acceptable when other, honest businesses pay what they owe.

“Tax fraud is a serious crime and HMRC will continue to pursue those individuals or businesses who attack the tax system.”